Using symbols in the html title of a webpage

[mickey11]

If you a symbol in the title of a webpage will this dilute the keywords in the title
thus making it rank worse in search engines

here is an example

<title><br /> Black Shoe Polish<br /></title>

versus

<title><br /> Black Shoe Polish<br /></title>

will the extra symbols count as words and thus the dilute the effectiveness of the Black Shoe Polish keyword. sort of making like 4 words instead 3.

By the way, The reason to use a symbol is to make it stand on in the search engine results

[jandunlop]

I doubt this will dilute the effectiveness of the keyword - what I would be more concerned about is a potential ranking penalty. I have seen this technique used in the past but hardly ever see it being effective these days.

I would stick to crafting well crafted titles designed for the user in mind - keeping your keywords first in the title.

[RobertFisher]

Interesting, but here is the other question: within the pantheon of SEO ranking factors, how important is this to you? In other words, you seem to believe from a reader perspective it will in some way provide an increase in something other than ranking on a search engine. If that is true, and this is the only change you are going to make, I cannot see this one item changing your ranking by even one position on Black Shoe Polish (as an example). If your site is a Shoe-Polish.com, and the pages are black, brown, cordovan, and white. Someone searching for black shoe polish is just as likely to still find it. The question becomes does it then provide anything new or better for you by way of the action the visitor to the site will take? Will they be more apt to stay on the page, will they stay longer, will they take a buying action?

For me, it would have no effect as a visitor. As to worrying about a single point within all of on site SEO, I wouldn't unless it is that your site is shoe polish and you are trying to sell turtles by adding a symbol for more attention. Hope this helped a little.